Mindfulness meditation makes the practitioner aware of the feelings, thoughts and emotions that try to interrupt the meditation. The individual while meditating begins to acknowledge the thoughts and how those thoughts impact their feelings, and emotions. Through the consistent practice of Mindfulness our level of awareness increases and we are more in tune to detect a bias thought running through our mind.

There are two recent researches that validate how effective is Mindfulness to rely less on previously established mental preconceptions. In the first study at Central Michigan University, the results showed that the individuals who participate and responded faster to the binary associations of good/bad, young/good, old/bad, positive words/white faces, negative words/black faces have already strong “biased” mental associations. Same individuals after practicing Mindfulness showed a decline of these strong mental associations. The experts of the research believe Mindfulness reduced the brain’s auto-pilot mode when creating and showing associations.

Another research from NYU studied the brain activity in individuals while they were looking at representations of faces. The activity of the brain was stronger when the individual was looking at a face they perceived different from them. These results indicate that racial biases are predictable by looking at the brain activity of an individual.

My story into this topic is related to my personal and collective experience in society. As an educator myself, we have a responsibility to help new and “old” generations develop empathy, compassion and kindness from a space of authenticity.  We are all one is a premise in all religious and spiritual doctrines. We are all one in different body shapes, skin colors, hair textures, ethnicities, ages, and gender.  We are all one, and our diversity as a whole is what enriches our experiences in life. However, what is happening that we see the other as a threat, with contempt, and hate? The answer to that question is that we are not relating in our hearts to the experiences of the victims who are suffering from racial injustice. We are ignoring their experience, and in my case my own experience as I am a woman of color. The experience of communities of color is not a fabrication, it is an unfortunate reality; however, the mental representations associated with  racism have been consistently fabricated, and enforced by law for centuries. Since Ancient times communities/cultures that display a different value system and/ or body image from the Eurocentric world view have been undermined, undervalued, abused, and subjected because of the mental representations created many centuries ago.  Written records show that those representations began during the Romans and Greeks times and those icons are part of our contemporary/ modern political and social institutions. Our communities in the United States are being impacted by the legacy of the Eurocentric world view  with social inequities, unfair laws, sentences, and etc. Mindfulness Meditation is one approach that will assist us in finding what mental associations and representations are blocking us from expressing love. Racism is LACK OF LOVE, simply that my friends.  Once we uncover our demons, and unlearn racism, our souls will begin appreciating the other with genuine love. Then and only then, we will be ready to look at the other in the eye and call him and her, my brother, and sister in the most sacred, authentic form. ©Maria Santiago-Valentín

 

 

 

Good morning, my beloved readers,

Today the day is beautiful and the coffee I’m savoring is exquisite. I have two daughters and the youngest is in her senior year of high school, about to enter college. The challenges are continuous. I live very proud of the achievements of my two daughters. However, sometimes the exchange with my younger child is not easy because all of the sudden that she is an adolescent, she knows everything, and this is what happens:

She knows how to drive a car … and I do not

She knows how to reheat food in the microwave … and I do not

She knows how to separate the clothes before putting them to wash … and I do not

She knows everything about everything … and I do not.

Teenagers are very emotional primarily because the pre-frontal area of their brain is developing until they are 25 years old. Although, their brains will continue changing their structure after their 25^th birthday and beyond with the ability that the brain has to self-generate new connections due to neuroplasticity.

And this explains why adolescents say and do things they regret later, or which they can find no explanation.

At times my younger daughter’s temper, and impatient attitude puts me over the edge; and I apply Mindfulness before I pop as a pressure cooker.

If this does not work for me, I count 10 seconds and apply the breathing in and breathing out again. Sometimes I have to wait until she is less emotional to ask her to explain to me again the reason behind her anger, or it is me who needs to clarify to my daughter the situation that made me upset with her.

I know it sounds like a broken record, but we as parents have to listen to our teenage children. It is important that we (the parents) HOLD and show emotional balance at all times because they will follow our example when they become adults and parents themselves. Adolescents have a tendency to get irritated easily. We need to remain calm without being manipulated.

We must continue encouraging our teenagers to give the best of themselves. It is critical to acknowledge their attributes, talents, strengths, and give them more autonomy. [Yeah right … I don’t even believe myself]. I supported my youngest daughter get her driver’s license a month ago, and she is in the process of acquiring vehicle, and believe me, I am happy, but at the same time, I am also concerned, I have mixed feelings… because I’m not ready yet to see my 17 year old stepping outside to drive alone.

Another little tip, we must know how to pick our battles, the rules can be negotiated with dialogue, what  cannot be negotiated is the limit we already established .

And finally, we need to give ourselves a daily “bath” of patience, because this stage will pass and they will outgrow their adolescent years. Let’s continue to enjoy our children, and our family. Au revoir.  MSV

I am going to share my story of the reason behind my profound interest with the practice of mindfulness. I was the type of person that used to worry too much about unfounded fears.  I said I was… and I meant it. I used to worry about what others would say about my decisions, about my choices, about my family (daughters), about my health… Over time all these unnecessary worries take the joy of someone’s life, and for no reason we are torturing ourselves.

When we are anxious we are not enjoying the present moment, and we do not appreciate the simple things in life.  Reading the books of Dr. Wayne Dyer since 2012 have paved the way to bring meditation into my daily practice. The first book that l read from him was: Your Sacred Self.  After reading that book, a personal transformation began at the subconscious level. This story is not about the book, but I encourage you strongly to read it.  Now, going back to mindfulness, I became aware that there are different types of meditation, but I learned that mindfulness meditation helps us shift the attention we put into our thoughts (that cause our anxiety) to our breathing. I took the eight weeks Mindfulness Stress Based Reduction (MSBR) training modeled on the program founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School which I completed in July 16.  Folks, consistent practice of mindfulness helps reduce anxiety and high blood pressure.  “According to a study published in Nurse Education Today magazine in December 2012, perform for a week a practice of mindfulness meditation decreases the level of anxiety and blood pressure”Retrieved from:  http://www.respiravida.net/

You only need to devote 20 minutes daily to this type of meditation. You can practice it by sitting in your recliner, in your bed, in your sofa, or in your yoga mat (for those who practice yoga). I know that I sound like a broken record, but we need to focus on the breathing and when our thoughts make us aware that we are putting our attention on them and not in the breathing, we gently label our thoughts while telling ourselves, “here you go…that was a feeling, ok…, that was an opinion” and try to refocus on our breathing. Otherwise we will end up being unkind and judgmental with ourselves because when the thoughts and fears our minds produced are coming back, we start to feel stress by believing we are not doing a good meditation. When that happens, it is critical to refocus on our breathing.  You will feel changes in a matter of months.  You will think more clearly, your attention will be in the present moment and you will begin enjoying life, with your renew self-confidence by putting your fears away.